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Wednesday, 30 January 2013

I didn't really set any New Year's resolutions this year but the more I got thinking about it I do have quite a few crafty goals for the first part of this year. As more and more things began swirling around my head I realized that it was time to make a list!

1) Smitten Quilt

First up finish my Smitten quilt. I started working on this in October with the best intentions of getting it done in only four short weeks. Life stepped up and gave me a smack with the old reality stick and it's still sitting in pieces in my guest room. I want to get the top put together and get it quilted before another 3 months slip by.

2) Ceres Baby Blanket

I started knitting this baby blanket for a friend back in November. Things were going pretty well until I ran out of one colour of yarn over the Christmas holidays and had to give it some time in the penalty box. It is so close to being finished that I think it's time to dig it out, finish off the knitting and get it blocked so I can send it off to it's infant owner while she's still small enough to cover her and it's still cold enough that she will use it.

3) Make a Tova

I bought the pattern for this top months and months ago. I made a couple of Wiksten tanks last Fall and have been wearing them constantly ever since. I could really use a few tops with sleeves to round out my spring wardrobe.

4) Postage Stamp Quilt

I have been crushing hard since I saw this postage stamp quilt at some point during my online travels. Although I tried to find a Central Park jelly roll so I could make one of my very own, I ended up settling for a jelly roll from the Curio line. I've had the fabric forever and am anxious to finally get started with this one.

5) Plus Quilt

Inspired by Kelsey's gorgeous Plus Quilt, I cut out one of my own using the leftovers from my Carnival Quilt. Although I managed to get it cut out back in late November, I still haven't made any progress on getting it sewn together. I'm thinking this will make a good easy finish/instant gratification project to help break up some of the bigger projects on this list.

6) Linky Love

My sister-in-law is getting married in the Spring and I thought she might appreciate a modern wedding ring quilt. When I saw someone testing out Tracey Jay's Linky Love pattern I knew that it would be just the thing. Best part is that I've had this Good Fortune jelly roll collecting dust in my stash and I think the colours will be great for this purple obssessed bride-to-be.

Monday, 28 January 2013

Last week I gave you a sneak peek at a new baby quilt top I've been working on. Over the weekend I was able to finish matching up all my seams, and figured it was worth sharing my progress.

This baby quilt top is made up of 224 half square triangle remnants left over from a recent throw sized quilt top I made. This is my first quilt that has exclusively used half square triangles and I'm really pleased with the effect.

Considering that I already had the half square triangles, this quilt top still look quite a bit of time to put together between what felt like endless triming and pining to match seams up.

Since I had a range of black and white prints, I wanted to play with the gradients in each kite, focusing the light prints in the bottom right, and dark prints in the top left.

I'm on a bit of a kick lately with using colour gradients to create movement in quilt tops, and I kind of don't see myself moving on anytime soon.

Friday, 25 January 2013

While working on my recent Moving Walkways Quilt top, I found myself in the possession of more than 200 half squared triangle remnants that needed to be a project of their own. Today I though I'd show you a bit of my progress to date on what I'm planning to do with these little extras.

Working with half square triangles is a first for me, but I'm really happy with how this quilt is shaping up. I've been really motivated to finish up WiPs this year, and this quilt is no exception so expect a finish really soon.

I'm really looking forward to making some major quilty progress on this over the weekend.

Monday, 21 January 2013

I'm typically not one to make New Years resolutions, but this year I have a couple, and it's all in the name of gettin' 'erdone! My priority this year, or at least for the first half of the year, is going to be all about finishing those nagging WiPs (we all have them am I right?). I'm talking about those projects that we fell hard for in the beginning, but later set aside for bluer horizons (aka: the inevitable next WiP). And second to that thought, is that I want to start using the stash that I already have, and that I so lovingly built.

Well with that being said, I thought today I'd show you my hopefully final stash stock up for the next little while - a stack of quilty readings, and a post Christmas splurge from Pink Chalk Fabrics.

Shortly after Christmas, in a moment of weakness, and during a spectacular sale, I fell head over heals for this Amy Butler 2" ribbon from her new Alchemy line. What will I do with it? That I don't know, but it's absolutely lovely (are you starting to see why I need a break?!).

I'm happy to say that the rest of my order will fit in nicely with my current stash, and will no doubt be used in short order. The remaining items in my order include:

Three spools or neutral coloured Aurifil in White, Ivory, and Light Grey;

Italian cotton ribbon in Natural and Charcoal;

A jelly fingers thimble;

Yardage of Tangled Threads in Black and Concrete from Sweetwater's Mama Said Sew;

Olive in Rose from Laurie Wisbrun's Olive the Ostrich line;

Leafy Stripe in Graphite Grey and Aquatic Blue from V and Co's Simply Color; and

Ikat Diamonds in Aquatic Blue from V and Co's Simply Color.

As I'm making pretty good progress on my WiPs, I might be able to splurge on a few New fabric lines sooner than I imagine, but right now I'm trying to keep my ground. The one thing that is keeping me sane in this endeavor though, is that I know that I can't possibly be the only one out there with a stash bigger than my projects list.

Wednesday, 16 January 2013

This past weekend it felt like it snowed without stopping, so naturally when life gives you a winter, you go tobogganing and you sew! Well at least that's what I chose to do, and in doing so, I managed to make some serious progress on my pow wow quilt top... and maybe I got in a bit of tobogganing before the photo shoot :)

I've used the Pow Wow Quilt Pattern by Cluck Cluck Sew as the guide for this quilt top, but made a few alterations along the way. I decided early on in my planning process that I wanted to off-set the rows, both mimicking a split left to right chevron, while simultaneously creating a sense of movement up and down.

The movement that is created in this simple edit to the pattern really reminds me of the moving sidewalks in large airport terminals. Since the Kona Solid I chose to use is called Water, an airport theme with a sunny destination seems to fit the bill for this quilt perfectly.

I managed to make the binding this weekend, and plan to baste and sew this into a quilt very soon. I'm loving all the progress I'm accomplishing on my WiPs in 2013, and I can't wait to show you a few more projects that have been catching my attention. Happy WiP Wednesday everyone!

Monday, 14 January 2013

Instead of spending the weekend as I intended (cleaning, doing laundry, quilting, and sleeping), I spent the weekend starting a new project. I started making hexies. It's been awhile, but you may remember what happens when I start making hexies.

It started off with me just wanting to make a few, just to try it out and see how I liked the templates. This quickly progressed to me wanting enough of them to make a cute little stack while I watched a movie.

This turned into me wanting to have enough hexies to get a sense of what they might look like sewn together.

Another movie later, I had almost half of my coffee table covered and a good part of my day gone. Fifty little hexies in all. Half of what my Tula Pink kit will produce. Still not sure what these are going to turn into but for now, I'm perfectly happy making them, stacking them, and admiring them over and over again.

Although I have some thoughts about what I am going to do with all of this, I'm not quite ready to start cutting into it yet. I'm still trying to clear a few things off the old cutting table from last year (*cough* Smitten *cough* *cough*) before starting anything new.

Tuesday, 8 January 2013

While I've really been focusing on finishing my current WiPs over the past few weeks, I couldn't help myself from cutting into some new fabric in my stash. I fell hard for two lines by Birch Fabric recently, Camp Sur and Camp Modern. I've never quilted with organic cotton before but I see way more of it in the future. Both lines are so silky smooth and an absolute pleasure to sew with.

Since I just started working on a few blocks, I thought it might be nice to share a sneak peek at what is to come. As great as it feels to finish off nagging WiPs, sometimes it sure is nice to get inspired and start something fresh.

Friday, 4 January 2013

The hubs and I spent the last week up at our family cabin in the beautiful British Columbia. Knowing that we were going for a while, I was sure to pack a bunch of my current WiPs. The main project on my "must sew list" was finishing off one of the two wax print quilts that are currently under construction, and I'm happy to say I successfully polished one off.

Having accomplished a nagging WiP from my pile, I sauntered down to my closest frozen lake with Mr. K to take photos so I could cross it off my list for good.

The idea of taking African fabric quilt photos in a snowy mountain range wasn't lost on my hubby as he took photos and I struggled with mittens and 10 layers of warm clothing. I think we both would have been much happier taking these photos under a warm sun in west Africa, but you gotta work with what you've got right? And a mountain view isn't exactly an eye sore now is it? Since a little juxtaposition never hurt anyone, I hope you enjoy the shots.

I mentioned a few months back that I lived and researched in Ghana for a summer. Last fall when a friend did a stint of her own volunteering abroad in Ghana, I gently persuaded down right begged her to bring back some fabric scraps from a local tailor/seamstress.

She more than carried out my request, bringing back plenty of scraps for two throw quilts, and now we'll each have a great momento from our travels abroad. This is her quilt, and I'm so excited to finally share it with her next week when she picks it up.

The backing for this quilt is made up of fabric generously gifted from friends (fabric a customary gift in Africa, if only it were in Canada too!). For the binding I chose a black and white print from my local Fabricland that had just the right amount of softness in the circles. The lack of crisp edges in this print really lets it blend in well with the wax prints and I think it holds its own.

When I was contemplating how to quilt it, I decided a simple random straight line criss cross would do the trick and I love the tecture it added to the final product.

And since I'm always a sucker for a foothold scenic shot, here's a quick snap shot of my view walking back from the cabin after the photo shoot for this quilt. A snowy winter day might not have been an obvious choice for a backdrop for this vibrant quilt, but gosh isn't it lovely!

Wednesday, 2 January 2013

This past Christmas I received a Kobo Mini, and as soon as I unwrapped it, I immediately started thinking of making it a cozy little sleeve. Over the past month, Amanda and I have made a number of sleeves for various sizes of eReaders (found here, here and here), but I couldn't resist showing you just a couple more.

I couldn't decide at first what fabric to use, but I knew I wanted to pull from my stash. In the end I went with Laurel Dots in Periwinkle by Amy Butler's Soul Blossom line. For the lining I used another Soul Blossom print, Temple Doors in Deep Water.

Since my mother-in-law received a Kobo mini as a gift as well, I whipped her up a case at the same time.

For her cover I used Linked in Blue by Kathy Davis' Journeys line. For her cover lining I pulled a favorite from my stash, Jewels in Turquoise by Lizzy House's Hello Pilgrims line.

This mini eReader is the perfect size to fit in my purse during my morning commute to work, so I'm glad I had time to whip up a quick sleeve to keep the screen scratch free.